On March 18th, Yihang Intelligent's independently developed EH216-S unmanned manned aircraft (hereinafter referred to as "EH216-S") was launched for sale on the Taobao platform. As soon as the news came out, the stock price of Yihang Intelligence saw a significant increase. On March 19th, the opening stock price of Yihang Intelligence surged to $19.93, up nearly 30%. As of the closing stock price, it was $15.5, with a market value of $936 million.
With the low altitude economy being included in the government work report, China's low altitude economy has ushered in a major opportunity period. The concept sectors of flying cars and low altitude economy have been continuously active in recent times, and multiple enterprises have seen continuous limit up; Beijing, Guangdong, Anhui and other regions have issued important measures to support the cultivation of low altitude economic industries, attracting market attention. As an emerging industry direction in global competition, the low altitude economy is entering a period of development opportunities and will open a trillion level new track.
The commercialization of flying cars is approaching
The Huaxia Times reporter noticed that there are currently two products on sale in the Taobao store of Yihang Intelligent Enterprise, namely EH216-S and VT-30 Long Range Unmanned Manned Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Aircraft (VT-30), priced at 2390000 yuan and 9999999 yuan respectively.
Among them, the EH216-S product page shows that the product is currently in pre-sale status and will officially accept reservations and purchases starting from April 1st; The VT-30 product page displays a maximum range of 300km and a maximum flight time of 100min. As of March 20th, the number of followers in Yihang Intelligent Enterprise Store has reached 11000.
Subsequently, the relevant staff of Yihang Intelligence confirmed to the reporter of Huaxia Times the fact that its product was launched on Taobao, and said, "After the product is sold, the company will have a training department to provide corresponding training. After the training is completed, it can be officially used. However, before use, it is necessary to report to the Civil Aviation Administration for approval before it can be truly driven."
As for whether the training cost is self funded or included in the product price, the above-mentioned staff member said, "This needs to be discussed with the sales team." Subsequently, the reporter called the relevant sales personnel and said, "It is not convenient to disclose at present, and this needs to wait for the official unified statement."
It is reported that EH216-S is the world's first unmanned "aerial taxi" and has been officially awarded the model certificate and standard airworthiness certificate by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2023. In December of the same year, EH216-S delivered its first batch of customers, and after certification, EH216-S delivered to customers will carry out commercial operations in low altitude tourism, urban tourism and other scenarios.
In fact, EH216-S was officially launched on February 1st this year, and the price on Taobao this time is consistent with the official guide price. Hu Huazhi, founder, chairman, and CEO of Yihang Intelligence, said, "The low altitude economy and its related industries, as a new engine of China's future economic growth, have created huge market opportunities for the development of Yihang's unmanned aviation. We will continue to ensure the safety value of aircraft research and development, production, operation, and commercial operation, provide consumers with a safe, automatic, and environmentally friendly new experience of air transportation, and allow unmanned aerial vehicles to fly into ordinary households and benefit more people."
In addition to Yihang Intelligence, more and more car companies with a "flying dream" are actively participating in the low altitude economy. For example, Geely established Wofei Changkong in Chengdu in 2017 by acquiring American flying car company Terrafugia. In February, the first manned eVTOL AE200 developed by Wofei Changkong in China to receive approval from the Civil Aviation Administration for airworthiness certification has just completed its maiden flight.
Xiaopeng Huitian has already released products such as Traveler T1, Traveler X1, Traveler X2, etc. Among them, Traveler X2 obtained a charter flight certificate issued by the Central and Southern Regional Administration of Civil Aviation of China in January 2024, and successfully completed a low altitude flight in the "Tiande Square Guangzhou Tower" area of the urban CBD on March 8. It is reported that another "land aircraft carrier" split type flying car from Xiaopeng Huitian will be scheduled for mass production and delivery in the fourth quarter of this year.
Lu Jiamin, Chief Analyst of Xinda Securities in the automotive industry, told a reporter from Huaxia Times that there is a high degree of compatibility between flying cars and the automotive industry chain. China's accumulated technical experience and industry chain advantages in the fields of aircraft and new energy vehicles are expected to be transferred to the flying car industry on a large scale. "We believe that with the continuous promotion of China's low altitude airspace management reform, the commercialization of the flying vehicle industry is approaching, and we should pay attention to the opportunities for industrial chain growth."
Trillion level new track opened
Low altitude economy, as a typical representative of strategic emerging industries and new quality productivity, is becoming a new trend.
In February 2021, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Outline of the National Comprehensive Vertical Transportation Network Plan", which first mentioned the development of low altitude economy. In December 2023, the Central Economic Work Conference listed "low altitude economy" as a "strategic emerging industry". Starting from January 1, 2024, the Provisional Regulations on the Flight Management of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) officially came into effect, marking a new stage of development for China's UAV industry with legal basis. During this year's two sessions, the low altitude economy was first included in the government work report and defined as a new growth engine for cultivating emerging and future industries.
While the central government strongly encourages the accelerated development of low-carbon economy, local governments are also actively responding and issuing important measures to support the cultivation of low altitude economic industries. For example, in November 2023, Hainan took the lead in releasing the "Hainan Province Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Airspace Map", making the first sustained attempt to open up low altitude airspace nationwide; In December, Shenzhen released several measures to support high-quality development of low altitude economy, proposing more than 20 specific subsidy measures for the development of eVTOL.
From January 2024 to present, the work reports of the governments of 18 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions including Beijing, Guangdong, Anhui, Shanxi, and Sichuan have proposed various policies to actively develop the low altitude economy. From the perspective of opening up new quality productive forces, the low altitude economy will be developed and strengthened as a strategic emerging industry, and some regions will actively build general airports and temporary takeoff and landing points.
Southwest Securities Research Report stated that the policy has repeatedly mentioned the low altitude economy, and 2024 is expected to become the first year of domestic development. Low altitude economy is a comprehensive economic form that is driven by various low altitude flight activities of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, radiating and driving the integrated development of related fields. It has the characteristics of wide coverage, long industrial chain, strong growth and driving force, and has broad space in driving effective investment, creating consumer demand, and improving innovation level.
Lu Jiamin also told a reporter from the Huaxia Times, "The low altitude economy market has a vast scale, with industrialization from point to surface, and a trillion level market ready for development. China is expected to quickly form industrial clusters in multiple regions and promote the rapid development of the low altitude economy nationwide from point to surface."
According to data from the State Council Information Office, the scale of China's low altitude economy will exceed 500 billion yuan in 2023, and it is estimated to exceed 2 trillion yuan by 2030. According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the market size of China's low altitude economy is expected to reach 1.5 trillion yuan in 2025, and is expected to reach 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035.
Meanwhile, Wang Ke, Chief Analyst of Zhongtai Securities Machinery, also mentioned in his research report that eVTOL aircraft have characteristics such as high complexity and technology intensity. At present, we are in a period of transformation from research and development validation to application, with huge potential for cost reduction in operations. The commercial application field is broad, and the implementation of orders and policy support is progressing rapidly. According to Roland Berger's calculations, there will be 3000 "flying cars" used globally for air taxi, airport shuttle, and intercity flight services by 2025, and this number will reach 98000 by 2050.
With the successive release of incentive policies and the accelerated investment of related enterprise products, the capital market has become increasingly popular, with multiple flying cars and low altitude economic concept sectors continuing to be active. On March 20th, Yongyue Technology was listed on the 7th consecutive board. Previously, Lihang Technology also experienced 7 consecutive rebounds, and CITIC Haizhi also experienced 2 consecutive rebounds. Guanglian Airlines briefly hit the limit up, while Zongheng Shares, Aerospace Rainbow, Chenxi Airlines, Wanfeng Aowei and others followed suit.